ALIAS Was So Influential, We Forgot It

Last week, I started rewatching Alias (naturally I'm already on season 3). The show was one of my major favorites in high school. I devoured the first two seasons on DVD, then somehow caught up on season 3 before watching live. It was perhaps one of the most breathtaking shows my little unformed mind had ever seen. Twists, cliffhangers, wigs, gadgets--it was too much for me. The show was a cult favorite, always just bubbling up to the surface. It seemed everyone knew about it--and knew that its star Jennifer Garner was the hottest thing ever--but did people even watch it?

It's funny to think how much Alias anticipated the current era of TV. Had the show premiered in 2015 on one of the streaming platforms like Netflix or Amazon, it would have been the talk of the town. And more so than it was in 2004 or even in 2001 when it debuted. The cliffhanger-happy format was made for our "Are you still watching?" pop culture landscape. The season finales, which always offered a game-changing final twist, would land even better on Netflix than they did on network TV.

It's not just the cliffhangers and the mythology that makes Alias a good show for modern eyes. But it was the beginnings of JJ Abrams' "mystery box" style of storytelling and promotion. Yes, people. JJ Abrams, director of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Trek, created Alias. Yes, people. Alias was Lost before Lost. It was the show to bring together quirky characters with the sci-fi. For every high-octane spy mission, Sydney Bristow had her friends and families to keep her sane (and then drive her insane).

For years, I resented Lost because it took Abrams away from Alias and because it hit just at the right time. By time audiences were ready for Alias, the show was already years deep into its mythology. The show was almost impenetrable for newcomers. That made ABC order more standalone episodes. But the narrative around Alias' standalone episodes was that they were trying too hard to get new audiences. So for mainstream audiences who wanted serialized shows with complicated mythology, here was Lost. It was fresh, new, and exciting. Plus you didn't have to watch 50+ episodes to know what was going on! Alias paved the way for Lost, and suffered for it.

Of course, Alias' decline in popularity was also self-inflicted. Few would disagree that the first two seasons were the show's strongest. I have fond memories of season 3 because the season-long arc was as ambitious as the show's initial premise. I don't remember much of seasons 4 and 5 so we'll see what happens when I get to them. If I recall correctly, the show struggled under the weight of its own storylines. Then Jennifer Garner got pregnant, so inferior replacements had to come in for the stunts and fight scenes. Because the later seasons were not as fondly received, the show's influence on our current TV landscape has been eclipsed.

However while going through the show, it's clear that it holds up pretty well. Sydney Bristow is a heroine for the ages. She's never just one thing; she continually evades being boxed into a category. Bristow can be a femme fatale, an empathetic friend, a quick-thinking agent, a loving girlfriend, a determined daughter. Jennifer Garner played all these emotions seemingly in the same scene, and brought out Bristow's multi-faceted character. Supported by a stellar cast, Garner grounded the show with her performance. Even when things got silly, you could always rely on her to land the action and emotional beats.

I won't argue that Alias was the first show with a heavily serialized sci-fi story (The X-Files or Star Trek can take that crown, I guess). But it was the major predecessor for today's mixture of indie character study, with outlandish spy action. I encourage you to revisit it, and see traces of what makes TV so popular and essential now. It's the cliffhangers, the characters, and the engrossing sci-fi elements. Admittedly, the show gets too complicated. But you can always boil it down with a simple summary, in the words of Buster Bluth:



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